In Ambala cells, cell phones know no bounds

The Haryana prisons department has decided to take action against at least 10 of its officials for dereliction of duty because of which mobile phones were being smuggled into the Ambala central jail.

The accused are warder and assistant-level employees and they would be chargesheeted, senior officials of the prisons department said.

Findings of a recent investigation by the Ambala-Panchkula police commissionerate indicated that mobile phones were finding their way into the jail where criminals had been using them to make extortion calls, among other purposes.

Zeroing in on several phone numbers from which ransom calls were made recently to two Panchkula-based businessmen, police went into a tizzy when they learnt that the calls were made from the Ambala central jail. On being apprised of the ransom calls, the jail authorities scanned the premises and found more than 20 cell phones and several chargers from the possession of prisoners in the past two months alone.

Earlier this week, one more cell phone was seized during a routine checking of the barracks. Last year too, at least 12 mobile phones were found from the jail.